Ten years ago I painted Carmel, Ocean Avenue on a Rainy Afternoon, and from the day I finished it, I dreamed of working on a second view of the famous scene.  Carmel, Sunset on Ocean Avenue is that long awaited painting!  Like the first piece, this painting is overflowing with the kind of details I love to paint: the old mission bell in its stone portico, the stately Monterey pines that shroud the avenue, and the bustling people (even a dog or two!) that are so much a part of the ambiance of Carmel.  Even the members of my immediate family managed to find their way into the painting.  My two older girls peer out of a vintage blue convertible while my two younger daughters make their way across the street and my wife Nanette pauses beside her bicycle to watch an artist at work. (Guess who posed for the artist!)

      My romantic vision of Carmel is also enlivened by many vintage cars and the charming buildings of the seaside town - the lights of which reflect, jewel-like, in streets moistened by the passing of ocean mists.  And, of course, a luminous sunset bathes the entire scene in a warm glow, as though a tranquil moment has been frozen in time.

-Thomas Kinkade-